Beamforming is a technique that makes use of antenna arrays for directional transmission or reception of signals. The elements of the antenna array are combined in such a way that signals in certain directions experience constructive interference while those in other directions experience destructive interference. Communications beam result with enhance performance in certain directions. In cellular communications systems, beamforming is used to improve the link budget for data communications. Examples of cellular communications systems that benefit from beamforming are the systems that operate at frequencies greater than 6 GHz, such as millimeter wave (mmWave) communications systems, as well as massive MIMO communications systems.
However, beamforming is also helpful in improving the link budget for cell specific signals, such as broadcast signals (e.g., physical broadcast signals (PBCH)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS)).